by the little communicating stairway to
her own apartment, never leaving the Emperor without a few words
expressing the most touching affection and good-will.

Elegant and simple in her dress, the Empress submitted with regret to the
necessity of toilets of state. Jewels, however, were much to her taste;
and, as she had always been fond of them; the Emperor presented her with
them often and in great quantities; and she greatly enjoyed adorning
herself with them, and still more exhibiting them to the admiration of
others.

One morning, when my wife was present at her toilet, her Majesty related
that, being newly married to M. de Beauharnais, and much delighted with
the ornaments he had given her, she was in the habit of carrying them
around in her reticule (reticules were then an essential part of a
woman's dress), and showing them to her young friends.

As the Empress spoke of her reticule, she ordered one of her ladies to
hunt for one to show my wife. The lady whom the Empress addressed could
scarcely repress a laugh at this singular request, and assured her
Majesty that there was nothing similar to that now in her wardrobe; to
which the Empress replied, with an air of regret, that she would have
really liked to see again one of her old reticules, and that the years
hall brought great changes. The jewels of the Empress Josephine could
hardly have been contained in the reticule of Madame de Beauharnais,
however long or deep it might have been; for the jewel case which had
belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette, and which had never been quite full,
was too small for the Empress. One day, when she wished to exhibit all
her ornaments to several ladies who expressed a desire to see them, it
was necessary to prepare a large table on which to place the caskets;
and, as this table was not sufficient, several other pieces of furniture
were also covered with them.

Good to excess, as everyone knows, sympathetic beyond all expression,
generous even to prodigality, the Empress made the happiness of all who
surrounded her; loving her husband with a devotion which nothing ever
changed, and which was as deep in her last moments as at the period when
Madame Beauharnais and General Bonaparte made to each other a mutual
avowal of their love. Josephine was long the only woman loved by the
Emperor, as she well deserved to have ever been; and for several years
the harmony of this imperial household was most touching. Attentive,
loving, and